F & I WAR NEW YORK MAP HORN. $1500.
Signed "Ens. Isaac Wood...Ano 1758"
This is a well used historic powder horn of the French and Indian War period. The horn measures 12 3/4 inches across and 14 1/2 inches around the outside curve, with a 3 1/8 inch pine butt. This horn has the most interesting period repair that I have ever encountered in my 50 years of collecting such horns. The horn was obviously badly split at the spout and the whole throat, from the engraved body of the horn to the spout was replaced in the 18th century by a solid hand carved piece of wood, including the neatly faceted spout. The most vulnerable area of an early horn is the spout area where a wedge shaped plug is jammed into the spout, causing the spout to split. This is why you see added horn collars, cast pewter and/or lead collars, or sometimes just glued string or sinew wound around the spout area.
This horn is fully engraved with the fur trade river routes including the Hudson River, as well as the Mohawk River and all of the forts enroute from New York City thru Albany up to Lake Ontario. It includes city scapes of both New York City and Albany. Forts and towns along the way include: Stillwater, Saratoga, "Skenachety", Ft Edward, Ft Johnson, G.Flats, Ft Hunter, "Mowk" Fort, and Fort Harkman. There is also neatly scrimshawed figures of a tiny hunter, dog and horse. "ENS.ISAAC.WOOD" is engraved in a banner above another banner containing: "ANo 1758".
Reference: "New York Colonial Muster Rolls 1664-1775". Volume I, Page 869. Isaac Wood was a 17 year old farmer who enlisted in Cap't Thomas Smith's Company of Colonel James DeLancey's Orange County, New York Regiment on April 7, 1758.
Condition: Fair. The above mentioned in-period replacement of the throat and spout. The pine butt is original but has been cleaned a long time ago. Although the engraving is quite clear and surprisingly crisp, some of it has been obscured over the centuries due to minuscule horn de-lamination. See pics for details.